


All those places (where it's not always beautiful)

by QZB



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, but like soft girlfriends before they knew they were girlfriends, that's all this is, they're just soft, what if they were just soft girlfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:13:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24573616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QZB/pseuds/QZB
Summary: Trivia night might just be the start, but Aelwyn tries to be a better person in a dozen little ways.Sam keeps track of all of them. She keeps an unofficial list of all the things that she's noticed.(Maybe the list is official, if nobody else is keeping one. Perhaps Sam Nightingale is the keeper of the official list of ways Aelwyn Abernant tries to be a better person. The thought that Sam is some sort of forefront expert in the field of bitchy, traumatized, elves makes her smile just a little bit.)
Relationships: Aelwyn Abernant/Sam Nightingale
Comments: 21
Kudos: 121





	All those places (where it's not always beautiful)

Relearning how to be a good person is hard.

It's all _'_ _ deal with your trauma' _ and _'_ _ don't listen to that voice in your head that tells you to hurt yourself like you hurt them _ ' and breathing exercises. 

So many fucking breathing exercises.

Aelwyn is so fucking sick of breathing exercises. But Adaine and Jawbone keep telling her that they help if _ 'you just take them seriously' _ so here Aelwyn sits, on the back porch of Mordred Manor, overlooking the garden that extends to the back of the property. Her peace is disturbed by a voice scoffing to her left.

"How are you so bad at being calm? Isn't that like an elf thing? You're all calm, aloof assholes?"

Aelwyn's eyes snap open and dart to the source of the voice. Her eyes meet Sam Nightingale, whose dark blue eyes crinkle as she gives a half-hearted smile.

“I fail to see what’s so funny,” Aelwyn snarls, but there’s no real bite behind it, not anymore.

Sam leans on the railing next to Aelwyn’s legs, pulling out a cigarette, and lighting it with a snap of her fingers. “Nothing! It’s just that when Adaine told me to come out and get you for trivia night, I expected the ice queen, y’know?”

Aelwyn’s eyebrows skyrocket. “What the fuck are you doing, Nightingale?”

Sam smiles, taking a long drag. “It’s not an actual cigarette. Don’t get on my case about it, it’s calming. Helps keep the wild magic at bay and all that.”

Aelwyn snorts. “Think they’d do anything for panic attacks?”

Sam shrugs, offering the cigarette over to Aelwyn. “As I was saying, you’re gonna help me win trivia.”

“What makes you think I can help?” Aelwyn takes a drag off the magical cigarette, feeling a faint calming effect come over her body.

“Adaine and Ayda are on the same team with the rest of the bad kids. I love Katya and Antiope, but they’re supposed to be our dead ringers for this? We don’t stand a chance.”

“And I’m your best hope? In case you all forgot, I helped put you in palimpsests and tried to sacrifice you to raise an evil dragon.” Aelwyn passes the cigarette back to Sam whose fingers brush against hers gently.

There’s an intense sadness in her voice as Sam says, “I was friends with Penelope. I guess if I’ve…” She trails off, staring into the distance before continuing. “I guess if I’ve forgiven her, then I also have to forgive you.”

Aelwyn jumps off the bannister, shaking her head. “I haven’t earned your forgiveness yet.”

Sam turns, incredulous. “And who are you to decide that for me?”

“If you trail off like that, I haven’t earned it. I can start by helping you beat my little sister at trivia night though.”

Being a better person is exhausting when you weren't a very good person to begin with, but it's easier when  _ 'being a better person' _ means beating your little sister at trivia.

—

"You're such a fucking bitch, oh my god!" Sam laughs out. "He was just trying to be nice!"

"He was flirting with me. This is a public library. I'm here to study, not flirt with a half-elf who has more hair than brains," Aelwyn says distractedly, attention floating back to the page in front of her.

Study group had become a sort of weird thing for Aelwyn. She was trying to make up for losing her entire senior year to an orb by getting her GED, and to do so she needed somewhere quieter than Mordred Manor, which isn't saying much because most jet hangars are quieter than Mordred Manor on a good day. So, that means holing up in the Elmville library on weekdays and studying with the bad kids on the weekends.

She had initially gotten dragged to the study group to help Adaine figure out a difficult spell. They had ended up calling in most of their friends, including the maidens trained in magic to test and perfect the spell translation. Then Aelwyn kept getting called in to help on some magical thing or another, so she just ends up coming uninvited nowadays. Sam and Danielle have both asked for her help on a project they're doing about types of magic so she's really just here to help.

It's weird but… nice.

Not that Aelwyn has a good handle on what nice is, but she's like 95% sure this is it. She makes a mental note to bring that up in therapy tomorrow.

Adaine pipes up. "He was your type though, I'm surprised you didn't go for it."

So they're back to talking about the big haired boy. Great.

"Addie."

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Bitch."

"Love you."

Danielle watches the exchange with interest. "I can never tell if you guys actually like each other or not. Is that a sister thing?"

Sam pipes up. "I think that's an  _ 'Aelwyn is a bitch' _ thing, actually."

Aelwyn smiles, face still down in the book. "Ouch, care to pull that knife from my back Nightingale?"

"Only after I twist it a few times, Abernant."

Adaine looks at Danielle. "I love Aelwyn dearly, but I also can't stand her. It's just how sisters work."

Aelwyn pretends she can't feel Sam's dark blue eyes staring at her across the table for the rest of the study group.

—

"Adaine."

"Yeah?"

"Our parents were super fucked up, right?"

"Very much so, yes."

"Okay."

"Aelwyn?"

"Hmm?"

"What made you ask that?"

"I still miss them sometimes."

Adaine sighs from the top bunk. "Yeah, me too."

"It's just that everything made more sense. I realize it was incredibly fucked up, but I knew the rules, I could play that game but now…"

"Now..?"

"I don't know what the fuck I'm doing? Like, how do I make friends? Do I just text them and ask them to hang out? I've never done that before, it seems desperate and I don't want to come off as desperate. And then the damn GED is  _ 'work at your own pace' _ and Jawbone said I should take my time but I'm used to going so fast that it feels weird not to stay up for two straight weeks to just get it done. Everything is so fucking nebulous I hate it, someone just tell me the rules. I'm so tired."

Adaine hops down from the top bunk as Aelwyn is ranting and cuddles up next to her in bed. "First: breathe."

"I fucking hate your breathing exercises too, I should've mentioned that first."

"Okay, so first first: ouch. Second first: I don't think you took a breath during all of that so I know you hate the breathing exercises but please just take a few good breaths for me."

Aelwyn obliges- she's never been very good at saying no to Adaine.

Once she's sufficiently breathing Adaine continues. "In regards to the friends thing yeah, that's pretty much how it works. You were popular, how did you never go through the normal friend stuff?"

"When you're hot and popular the rules don't apply, people just try to be friends with you."

"You're so humble."

Aelwyn half-heartedly bats at Adaine's shoulder. "And like, I know it's stupid but I just want to be her friend and—"

"I'm not gonna ask who  _ her _ is because I'm 95% sure I already know but just ask her to go get coffee."

"That sounds too date-like."

Adaine arches an eyebrow. "I mean, would you  _ want _ to go on a date with this girl?"

"If you're trying to figure out if I'm gay, you can just ask."

"Aelwyn, lovely sister of mine, is this your way of coming out?"

"I suppose it is. Adaine, I'm a big fucking lesbian."

Adaine slips her arms around Aelwyn's waist to give her a tight hug. "Proud of you, love you forever, all that garbage I'm supposed to say to be a nice sister… now about this mysterious girl."

"Nope, we're done with this conversation. You're just going to try to convince me to date her, and I don't know if I'm ready for that."

Adaine shrugs. "Then ask her to do whatever it is that mean girls in high school do. Go shopping? Make fun of freshmen? Go to the pool and make everyone else feel bad about themselves because of how hot you are?"

Aelwyn smiles and shrugs off Adaine's ridiculous suggestions. But later, when her sister is safely tucked away in the top bunk, she pulls out her phone and texts Sam.

**Abernant (10:45 pm)** hey this is probably weird but do you want to hang out sometime

**Abernant (10:45 pm)** my therapist said it'd be good to do "normal teen stuff" with people who aren't my sister or her friends

**Nightingale (10:47 pm)** I'm very interested to hear what your idea of "normal teen stuff" is

**Abernant (10:48 pm)** well I only own like 3 shirts so I was thinking shopping but if you want smthn more diabolical I can whip smthn up

**Nightingale (10:50 pm)** ur sense of style is atrocious but I can work with that

**Abernant (10:50 pm)** I'm already regretting this

**Nightingale (10:51 pm)** too late! I'm picking u up on saturday and we're GOING.

—

Trivia night might just be the start, but Aelwyn tries to be a better person in a dozen little ways.

Sam keeps track of all of them. She keeps an unofficial list of all the things that she's noticed.

(Maybe the list is official, if nobody else is keeping one. Perhaps Sam Nightingale is the keeper of the official list of ways Aelwyn Abernant tries to be a better person. The thought that Sam is some sort of forefront expert in the field of bitchy, traumatized, elves makes her smile just a little bit.)

There's the day that Aelwyn swings by to pick up Adaine from Riz's office and is asked by Penny to teach her mage hand, how the normally impatient elf sits and walks her through it, step by step, and by the end of the day Penny can cast mage hand without anyone noticing. 

(Sam finds this out secondhand when a purple mage hand steals the cherry off of her ice cream sundae at Basrars.)

(When she angrily texts Aelwyn about it all she receives in response is a smiley face.)

It's the party where Danielle is slightly tipsy and Aelwyn listens patiently to the druid's rambling about taking proper care of the garden that's running wild in the backyard of Mordred Manor.

(When Sam stops by the manor with Zelda two weeks later and sees Aelwyn toiling in the garden alone, it makes her heart ache a little bit. But Aelwyn looks happy, peaceful, as she works underneath the afternoon sun, so Sam doesn't dare go to interrupt.)

It's the little moments when the seven maidens are over at the manor, when Aelwyn enters a room with them and seems to shrink in on herself, makes herself small. She nods at them politely and excuses herself as quickly as she can.

(Sam has mostly gotten over the palimpsest thing, because Penelope is dead and so is Kalvaxus and so in her mind that chapter is closed but she knows that some of her friends still hold grudges.)

(And if her eyes linger on Aelwyn's slender hands as they dance over the countertop to make tea, that's a secret Sam will never tell.)

It's on one such occasion that Sam decides to slip into the hallway after the elf, calling out and stopping her in her tracks.

"Running away again, Abernant?"

Aelwyn turns, confusion evident on her face. "I know where I'm not wanted Nightingale."

"And who said we didn't want you to join movie night? You live here too. You can stay for a bit. We're friends, nobody would tell you to leave."

Aelwyn shakes her head. "Ostentatia flinches when I enter the room, and Katya always places herself between us. I'll just be making people uncomfortable if I'm there."

Sam searches for a response but as she thinks about it, she realizes that Aelwyn isn't wrong. But Sam still wants her there for— well Sam doesn't quite know why she really wants Aelwyn Abernant around all the time, but it's something that's on the tip of her tongue, just not ready to come out yet.

Aelwyn takes the silence in stride, offering her a smile. "Have fun at movie night Sam."

Sam wants to break down Aelwyn's barriers, to see the girl underneath all the sadness, the girl underneath the ice queen and the panic attacks.

There are moments when it slips out. 

The maidens and the bad kids have a sleepover at Mordred Manor, bringing down mattresses and blankets to make a pillow fortress in the living room. After drinking too much of some weird alcoholic concoction Fig made and watching bad movies, most of the kids have fallen asleep, except for Sam and Adaine.

They're in the kitchen, grabbing water and ibuprofen to make sure their friends don't suffer too badly in the morning, when Aelwyn walks in. She's so quiet Sam doesn't notice she's there until Adaine speaks up.

"Hey 'wyn, what're you still doing up?" Adaine doesn't look out from the fridge as she speaks, and Sam turns around to see Aelwyn propping herself up on the counter.

"Already tranced, only need a little sleep to keep functioning."

Adaine does some math in her head before turning out of the fridge. "You can't have gotten a full trance in, it's only 3am and I saw you at midnight. What're you really doing up?"

Sam kinda feels like an intruder in this conversation, but neither sister asks her to leave so she just pulls out her crystal to look busy.

Aelwyn shrugs. "Would it be lame of me to say that I wanted to check on you?"

Adaine smiles. "You're worried about me." 

"I'm your big sister, that's my job."

Adaine gets a shit eating grin on her face. It's not often Sam sees the normally serious elf like this, she's usually the voice of reason in the midst of her chaotic friends.

"Are you sure it was me you wanted to check on?" Adaine asks, eyes glancing over at Sam.

"Of course not, dear sister, I was gonna check on everyone else but you. Because you're an awful child and I hate you."

"You love me shut up."

"Sleep well. Or don't. Whatever, Addie." Aelwyn slips off the counter and pads across the kitchen silently. She kisses Adaine on the top of the head and waves at Sam before heading out.

Adaine snorts. "She thinks she's so slick."

Sam glances up from the crystal "What'd she do?"

"Punch me."

"No?"

"Sam, just try it. You won't hit me."

Sam shrugs and throws a weak punch at the wizard. She gets close to Adaine's skin but never makes contact because she's stopped by a shield, faintly humming with light green energy.

"Pretty cool right? Aelwyn's specialty."

Sam wants to see Aelwyn in the little moments before Adaine goes off to do something stupid with the bad kids. The moment where Aelwyn kisses the top of her little sister's head and mutters under her breath. Now that she's looking for it she can see the faint green energy crackling around Adaine afterwards. 

—

It takes her a few weeks to work out how she wants to bring this up to the other maidens. Because even though she has forgiven Aelwyn for her part in all that, she knows the others haven't.

"Hey do we still hate Aelwyn Abernant? I know she's in study group but does that mean we don't hate her anymore?" Sam starts as the seven maidens relax around the pool in Danielle's backyard.

Antiope snorts. "Sam, if you want to date her just date her already, you don't need to get our seal of approval."

"No I'm not—" Sam cuts herself off, the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks. "Oh my god, I have a crush on her."

"You're the last one to know, incredible."

Zelda speaks up from the middle of the pool where she and Penny have been hitting a beach ball back and forth. "Aelwyn's not bad anymore, she's really nice to the bad kids. She helps Gorgug when he's working on a big project, she's really good at magic and stuff."

"And she helped me learn mage hand!" Penny demonstrates by tossing the ball at Sam with the semi-translucent hand.

Sam bats the ball away with ease. "I think she's trying to get better it's just…" Sam throws a guilty look over at Ostentatia, "you know."

The dwarf shakes her head. "Do I like her? No. But Fig told me how they found her, about that orb, and the way they bombed out her memory. It sounded awful."

Zelda cocks her head to one side. "Maybe I just don't see what you see in her Sam, but if it makes you happy go for it."

"We've been hanging out for a few weeks and she's just cute and really funny. I dunno maybe it's stupid of me, she probably doesn't even like girls." Sam hangs her head, glancing down at her phone, where a text from Aelwyn is waiting. "Would it be shallow of me to say my type is hot and damaged?"

"Yes, it would absolutely be shallow," comes Antiope's response.

"But it would also be correct," Danielle finishes.

"Fuck you guys."

**Abernant (4:26 pm)** hey

**Nightingale (4:27 pm)** hey

**Abernant (4:27 pm)** I need your help with something. u free rn?

Sam looks at the impromptu pool party, standing up and walking a short distance away. The other girls look at her, calling out. "Ooh, Sam's texting her girlfriend."

She flips them off and grabs her bag.

**Nightingale (4:28 pm)** yeah, what do you need?

**Abernant (4:28 pm)** just come by the manor, hope ur feeling magical

—

At the manor, Sam sees a side of Aelwyn that she's never seen before: the nervous side.

Aelwyn greets her at the door, foot jittering on the ground and hands unable to stay still.

It's frankly very off putting.

"Are you okay?" Sam asks. Immediately she realizes that's a mistake because all the nervous energy in Aelwyn's body stops moving abruptly. Aelwyn squares her shoulders, looking the part of the calm, aloof elf asshole Sam knows she can be.

"I'm fine. I'm just a bit frazzled is all. Come on, we have magic to do." Aelwyn turns quickly and makes her way through Mordred Manor, leading Sam down twisting hallways and the stairway into the basement.

The basement is mostly clean, which is surprising, but the weirdest thing in it is a giant crystal in the center of the room. There's a small desk shoved to one side with books and paper scattered across the top. There's a fair bit of paper scattered around the ground near the base of the crystal, as well as chalk lines going from the edge of the crystal outward in intricate designs.

"Aelwyn, what the hell is all this? Are you going to trap me in a crystal again?"

Aelwyn scoffs. "No, I'm very much past the “trapping people in crystals” stage of my life. This is a protective spell I've been working on."

Sam steps closer, looking at the arcane writing on the desk. "Adaine told me you were good at this but Aelwyn… this is a lot."

"Yeah, I know but Sam, I figured it out. I've been trying to make a protective enchantment that stays, something that imbues the house with magic and I finally figured it out! I just need… well I need a jump start basically."

Sam turns to look at Aelwyn, the bags under her eyes and the slumped way she's trying to hold herself up. "What you need first is food, water, probably a nap, then I'll be your magical battery."

"Sam please just really quick, it's so close to being finished. We can go get food afterwards and I'll pay, but I just - I need this finished."

Sam is fully prepared to argue and strong-arm Aelwyn into taking a nap before they start whatever ritual is planned, but what she's not prepared for is the pleading in Aelwyn's eyes. She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Sure, fine, but you're not weaseling out of self care after this."

Aelwyn smiles and Sam feels her heart flutter an unsteady beat.

"Okay so the way this works is that once we activate it with your magic it starts to draw off of any other magic done in the house to keep itself steady…" Aelwyn trails off into a complex magical explanation as she busies herself making things ready. Sam honestly doesn't understand all of what she's saying, but Aelwyn's nervous hands have calmed again and she's in her element so Sam is content to just sit back and watch Aelwyn do her thing.

Aelwyn Abernant is a fucking genius.

This is something Sam already kinda knew, because you can't be a wizard if you're not stubborn and smart as a whip, but the magic Aelwyn walks her through is  _ intense. _

Sam breathes life into a crystal that hums with seafoam light, not unlike Aelwyn's green shields but slightly different, with slightly more of Sam's magic, the cool relaxing blue of the ocean.

"I believe I owe you lunch, Nightingale, great work." Aelwyn looks relieved, like a huge weight has lifted from her shoulders.

"Can't believe I magically jump-started your house and all I'm getting is free lunch," Sam grumbles.

"People have done more to get a date with me, I'd consider this a compliment if I were you." The elf winks before turning to disappear up the stairs.

—

**Abernant (1:14 am)** hey, u up?

**Abernant (1:15 am)** ah fuck I forgot it's like 1 am nvm

**Nightingale (1:16 am)** my sleep schedule is shit anyway, what do you need?

**Abernant (1:16 am)** can't sleep. could I get one of those magical cigarettes off of you?

**Nightingale (1:17 am)** I'll be over in 10

**Abernant (1:18 am)** u don't have to, I can teleport ya know

**Nightingale (1:26 am)** too late I'm already outside :)

Aelwyn looks  _ bad, _ is the first thought that goes through Sam's mind as she sees the other girl come out onto the porch of Mordred Manor. 

Aelwyn looks up to make eye contact and Sam must be imagining things because Aelwyn's face lights up at the sight of her. 

"Hey, Nightingale."

"You look like shit."

"You really know how to sweet talk a girl, I'm swooning," Aelwyn quips sarcastically.

Sam digs the cigarettes out of her pocket, shaking one out and handing it to Aelwyn. "If I was trying to flirt with you, you'd know."

Aelwyn takes the cigarette, lights it, and leans back against the railing, chuckling a little bit. "I'd like to see it."

Sam must show her shock on her face because Aelwyn laughs at her expression. "You're so cute when you're surprised."

Sam steals the cigarette from Aelwyn, trying to sooth her now racing heart. "You're awful. How's the better person thing working out for you?"

A shrug. "I have my good days and bad days. Today was a bad one."

"Why?"

"I snapped at Adaine this morning over nothing, Fig chewed my ass about it, the rest of the bad kids just iced me out all day even though Adaine forgave me immediately. I'm a fucking mess Sam, I can't even have a conversation with my own goddamn sister without someone in this house montioring me for signs of evil. You remember the crystal we set up in the basement? I had to hide that from everyone except Jawbone because he's the only one who wouldn't get on my ass about it. I'm just so fucking tired. I have to be Aelwyn Abernant, who does breathing exercises, I have to be Aelwyn Abernant, the punching bag for the whole Kalvaxus thing because I'm the only one fucking  _ left, _ I have to be Aelwyn Abernant, who goes to fucking therapy three times a week because her father imprisoned her in a magical hell orb and now she can't sleep because every time she does she goes back to that place! I can't just be me. Or maybe I just don't know who I am anymore."

Sam doesn't quite know how to respond to all that. "Would it be okay if I hugged you? I think you need it."

She waits until Aelwyn nods before wrapping her arms around the elf. Aelwyn shakes in her arms, holding on to Sam like she's the only thing keeping her here.

It's a while before the shaking subsides enough for Aelwyn to speak, her head still buried in Sam's neck. "Do you want to head inside? I'm freezing."

Aelwyn grabs her hand and leads her inside, through the entryway to the living room. She plops down on the sofa, grabbing a blanket and wrapping it around herself. Sam's hand feels like it's on fire from Aelwyn's touch, but Aelwyn is having a bad day, so she ignores the feeling and settles for sitting an appropriate distance away on the couch.

Aelwyn has other plans though as she stretches out, laying her head on Sam's lap and effectively dragging her train of thought to a grinding halt.

The TV in front of them flicks on, playing reruns of bad sitcoms on mute.

Aelwyn sleeps soundly for the first time in weeks, curled up on Sam's lap. Sam, for all her nervous energy and magic coming out of her veins, is still for once.

Sam awakes the next morning to see Jawbone staring at them with raised eyebrows. She gives him a sheepish smile that he returns.

"Did ya sleep well?" He asks, sipping coffee.

Sam glaces at Aelwyn, still peacefully asleep. "I think she did actually."

Jawbone nods. "First time in… weeks if she did. Good lookin' out Sam, you're a good friend."

"Weeks?"

"Yeah I reckon she hasn't had a proper night's sleep in weeks. She was working on some big project involving a crystal or magic or something, honestly she tried to explain it to me and it went way over my head. She was into it though. But most of the time she runs on empty anyway, big project or no."

"Why?"

Jawbone shrugs. "Night terrors usually shake her out of trance. Adaine is pretty good at calming her down but I know Aelwyn doesn't want to bother her so she'll just stay up as long as she can to make herself crash. Anyway, you want some breakfast? I'll bring it to you since sleepyhead doesn't look like she's gonna move anytime soon."

Jawbone's ability to go from therapist to former-drug-dealer-turned-dad will never cease to amaze her. "Yeah, if you're already making it. I don't want to be a bother."

Jawbone flips a furry hand at her. "Don't sweat it, I'm just about the start for the whole gang. It's waffle day!"

He pads out of the room and Sam takes a moment to look at Aelwyn. She looks so calm right now, cuddled up in her lap.

Adaine walks into the living room on her way to the kitchen, glances over, waves at Sam, continues on her way.

She gets about three steps before she stops dead and turns around. "You don't live here."

"Very astute observation, little Abernant."

Adaine makes her way around the couch to see a sleeping Aelwyn and all the sarcasm drains out of her face. "Oh."

"She texted me at like 1 am asking to bum a smoke, we ended up here and she passed out immediately."

Adaine nods. "She doesn't sleep a lot. Thanks for being there, Sam."

"Everybody keeps saying thank you like I'm doing something special. I'd do this for any of my friends."

"Yeah but Aelwyn is…" Adaine pauses, trying to find the right word.

"Kinda a bitch?"

"Yeah! I mean I love her to pieces, but she's not good at being nice."

Sam looks down at the sleeping elf. "I dunno about that, even when she was evil she was always nice to me."

Adaine scoffs. "Uh huh, I bet I know why."

Sam looks up in confusion while Adaine leans in closer to flick Aelwyn's ear.

As Adaine reaches towards them though, her hand meets a solid barrier. She pokes around it a little bit in awe. Once Sam knows it's there it's easier to see, a faint green aura surrounds her and Aelwyn, stopping anyone from touching them.

"I haven't seen her do that in her sleep since… wow." Adaine breathes out, smiling widely.

"Since when?"

"That's for her to tell." Adaine nods down at Aelwyn, who is now beginning to stir. "Breakfast will be ready in 20, if you're staying."

—

Adaine is the first to figure it out, naturally. Nosy little sisters will do that. Nosy little sisters who happen to have the gift of future sight will  _ really _ do that.

"Aelwyn."

"Hmm?"

"When were you going to tell me you were dating Sam Nightingale?"

Aelwyn looks up from her book, brow knit together in confusion. "I'm not dating Sam Nightingale."

Adaine talks slowly, like she's explaining theoretical physics to a toddler. "She's over here every day. You've gone out like 3 times this week. You two literally fell asleep spooning last night. You're dating."

Aelwyn closes the book and stares at the wall for a solid minute. "Well, shit."

"Oh my god, you didn't know. How could you not know!"

"My perspective on relationships is super fucked Addie, I spent most of my highschool career having sex with boys whose names I don't remember because I was trying to forget how awful everything else was."

"But Sam isn't a boy whose name you don't remember, and you're getting better."

Aelwyn throws her head back onto her pillow with a sigh. "I'll just fuck it up soon like I always do."

"No you won't."

"How are you so sure?"

"The gift of divine sight? The fact that Sam's head over heels for you? The fact that you're getting better and she's a big part of it? Call it a hunch."

"Adaine, what the fuck do I do with this information now?"

"You should probably kiss her."

Aelwyn smiles, just a little bit to herself, at the prospect of kissing Sam.

"I can see you smiling like a dope over there you know."

"Let me have a  _ moment, _ Adaine, damn."

—

Aelwyn doesn't kiss Sam right away, partly because she's like 80% sure Adaine is full of shit and partly because Sam is just  _ so good and sweet _ and it would literally kill Aelwyn if this is why they stopped being friends.

But if she thinks about Sam at night and smiles like a giddy schoolgirl with a crush that's a secret that she'll take to the grave.

—

**Nightingale (11:05 am)** HEY AELWYN

**Abernant (11:06 am)** it's too early for you to be yelling like that

**Nightingale (11:06 am)** it's like 11? wake up u sleepy bitch! I'm taking u on an adventure

**Nightingale (11:07 am)** I could practically hear ur "I'm a long suffering elf" sigh from across town. shut up. just get ready!

**Abernant (11:07 am)** what should I wear

**Nightingale (11:08 am)** beach stuff, but with a cover-up

**Abernant (11:10 am)** you want me to cover all this up?? your choice ig

**Nightingale (11:11 am)** ur the worst. I'll pick u up in 10

When Sam pulls up to the manor the first thing she sees is that is Aelwyn well… Aelwyn's hot. There's really no way around that fact. Aelwyn is attractive and so  _ very _ Sam's type that it almost hurts to look at her.

Sam doesn't know if she'll ever get tired of looking at Aelwyn.

"Hop in, loser! We're going to the beach!"

Aelwyn rolls her eyes but smiles as she settles into the passenger seat of Sam's car. "You're energetic this morning."

"Well I'm planning on having a good day." Sam says with a goofy grin as she pulls out of the manor driveway.

They don't drive for very long, just to the coast east of Elmville. Aelwyn had been to the beach before, but under the cover of nightfall and only with boys whose names she doesn't remember. Today, it's bright and Sam's grin as she grabs her bag from the backseat is more radiant than anything she's ever seen.

As they make their way down to the beach Sam grabs her hand. "Aelwyn, do you trust me?"

A nod. "Yes."

Sam's grin widens and she tugs Aelwyn to the left. "Perfect. Come on."

It's not safe to stare into the sun, but that's what Sam's grin is and Aelwyn is so, so helpless to look away.

Sam leads her down the beach, to a rocky outcropping that juts into the sea. Gentle waves lap into the rock face and Sam tosses her bag over the top. It lands somewhere on the other side with a soft  _ thud _ . Sam lets go of Aelwyn's hand to get a solid grip on the rock as she hoists herself up onto the rocks and turns to offer her hand back to Aelwyn.

Aelwyn's eyebrow arches. "I thought we were doing a beach day, not extreme sports."

"I want to show you my favorite place, plus you're almost as tall as these rocks, stop complaining and come on."

She sighs dramatically once for good measure before taking the outstretched hand and joining Sam on top of the rocks.

Sam slips off the other side offering another hand for Aelwyn who accepts and finds herself in a small cove.

The rocky outcropping and natural cliffs along the beach form a high wall around a small inlet. Sam grabs her bag, throws down a towel, and flops down, patting the sand next to her.

"My parents used to take us here all the time when I was little. We usually just swam around because y'know," Sam gestures to herself. "water genasi and all that. But I figured you'd appreciate not getting wet this early in the day."

"Oh, I'm gonna get wet later? That a promise Nightingale?" Aelwyn laughs as she throws down her towel. 

There's a long silence before Sam quietly speaks. "Aelwyn, what are we doing?"

A beat. "Well we're at the beach. You've taken me to your favorite spot, which means a lot to me. This feels like a date and I'm avoiding my emotions so, I'm about to do something stupid like ask you to rub sunscreen on my back in what may be my most see-through move yet."

Sam stares into the sky, not meeting Aelwyn's eyes. "And would that be okay? If we were hypothetically on a date?"

"I would be amicable to a date if hypothetically one was going to happen or was currently happening."

Sam turns to look at Aelwyn as the blonde elf stares into the ocean. 

"And… hypothetically…"

She doesn't even finish her thought before Aelwyn looks at her and nods.

"Yes."

"You didn't even hear what I was about to ask."

"I'm impatient! Finish asking, then."

Sam takes a deep breath. "Ifihypotheticallywantedtokissyouwouldthatbeokay?"

A sly grin unfolds on Aelwyn's face. "You'll have to run that by me again, Nightingale."

"Nope. You heard me." Sam lays back on the towel, staring at the bright blue sky.

Her view is darkened as Aelwyn throws a leg over to climb on top of her. "A little forward there, huh, Abernant?"

"You're the worst."

Sam props herself up in her elbows, drawing closer to Aelwyn. "I kno—"

Sam loses her entire train of thought as Aelwyn kisses her.

Aelwyn kisses her like it's a god damn  _ sport _ , like it's a competition she's trying to win. Aelwyn tastes like magic and fresh air and coming home, all in one intangible moment. Her hands draw up to Sam's cheeks holding her there, like she's afraid that Sam will somehow slip through her fingers, disappear.

But Sam's not going anywhere. Honestly, if she had her way she would stay here, kissing Aelwyn Abernant forever, not even another dragon or the end of the world could drag her away from the sharp intake of breath Aelwyn takes when Sam's hands come up to rest on her hips to keep them steady in the sand.

Unfortunately, there are more pressing matters than dragons or the end of the world, mainly that Aelwyn breaks the kiss to breathe.

"Hypothetically…" the elf begins.

"Yes."

"Look whose the impatient one now, you don't even know what I was going to ask!"

"If you weren't going to ask me to be your girlfriend, then the answer is actually no, I'm changing my answer to the question you didn't ask."

Aelwyn brushes her thumb against Sam's cheek. "And what if I  _ was _ going to ask you to be my girlfriend?"

"Then I would say yes."

"I'm a nasty piece of work, are you sure?"

"Hey." Sam sits up fully, shifting Aelwyn slightly back so the other girl is sitting in her lap. "You're trying to be a better person, that's what matters."

Aelwyn leans forward, resting her forehead against Sam's. "Are you sure?"

"Aelwyn Abernant, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

"You're such a fucking doofus, I can't believe I was so scared to kiss you." Aelwyn giggles then kisses her once more and if they could just do this forever, then she would die happy.

"I didn't hear a yes…"

"Yes, I'll be your dumb girlfriend."

"Actually, you'll be my very smart girlfriend because you're very smart to be dating me."

Aelwyn's laughter as it echoes off the cliffs around them is Sam's new favorite sound.

—

Adaine barges into their shared bedroom with a hand covering her eyes as she yells. "Aelwyn, please stop making out with Sam - we can't start trivia night without you guys there!"

Aelwyn looks up from the book she's reading with a venomous glare. "Shh! Sam's sleeping you loudmouthed…" She whisper yells at Adaine, who drops the hand covering her eyes.

"You couldn't find a good end for that insult could you?" Adaine grins cheekily.

"Calling you a loudmouthed bitch seemed a little too intense." Aelwyn shrugs, the movement rustling Sam into wakefulness against her side. "Hey, darling," Aelwyn says softly, "our presence has been requested at trivia night."

Adaine rolls her eyes and exits the room. "You're so soft now. Just come downstairs when she wakes up, please don't be long."

Sam mutters something against Aelwyn's stomach, causing the elf to lean down. "What was that darling?"

Sam drags her head up slightly. "Fuck trivia night, I'm comfy."

Aelwyn grins. "I can see that, but if we don't go downstairs soon they're probably going to bring trivia night up here."

Sam sighs dramatically, flopping back down onto Aelwyn's stomach. "Just five more minutes."

Aelwyn leans to press a small kiss into Sam's forehead. "Five more minutes."

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on twitter @whoopsitsgay and shoutout to alex for editing this and adding the perfect amount of commas :)  
> title from Go There by Kyd The Band


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